The Zen Studies Podcast

Recent Episodes

In this second episode on the Buddha's life, I tell the story of his spiritual struggle and search, and the circumstances around his enlightenment. Then I summarize his teaching career, and tell the story of his passing, in order to give you a sense of the arc of his entire life. In Episode 9: Shakyamuni Buddha’s Enlightenment: What Did He Realize? I go into more detail about the content of the Buddha's enlightenment, and in Episode 17: Life of Shakyamuni Buddha Part 3: Buddha’s First Sermons and Students, and the Early Sangha I return to the subject of the Buddha's teaching career, which requires 1-2 episodes on its own.

According to tradition, Buddhism began with the Buddha's enlightenment. This was the spiritual awakening of one man, Siddhartha Gautama, somewhere between 528 and 445 BCE, who afterwards was called the "Buddha," or "awakened one." He then taught others what he realized, along with the methods he used to achieve that realization, and those teachings have been passed down to the present day. What exactly did Siddhartha comprehend in his enlightenment?

For over 2,500 years, in every form of Buddhism, you formally become a Buddhist by stating, “I take in the Three Treasures of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.” What are the Three Treasures, and what does it mean to take refuge in them?